With the stitches from my trigger finger surgery removed, I can use my right hand, although it’s still limited. I decided to go with Donna to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) to try my hand at pickleball. I can’t make a tight fist but I can grip the paddle handle well enough.

We arrived at PBRC just before noon and found a couple of people already setting up the nets. We pitched in to help and were ready to play after a few minutes. For the first hour or so, there were fewer players than we usually find at PBRC. We barely had time to rest between games. My hand held up fine. It got sore after a while, but it was always sore playing pickleball before the surgery. I think I’ll hold off until next Tuesday though before I play again.

Incision healing and looks okay after playing pickleball

Donna visited our friend Kris Downey (OpenRoad365) at site 138. Kris’ husband Tom had to go to North Hollywood where their daughter Megan lives. Her car had been stolen a couple of weeks ago and they went up to LA at that time to help her deal with the insurance claim and get a new car. Now the police have recovered the stolen car. This sounds familiar – the same thing happened when those Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole our trailer. Anyway, Tom went up to see the car, which was recovered after it had been left at the scene of an accident with the front end completely demolished.

While Donna was visiting with Kris, I made a run on the scooter to Dan Diego’s. The usual crowd – Bob, Dan, Joe, Tye and Tim – showed up and I turned in my football pool picks for this weekend. I was talking to one of the bartenders there – they tend to be very knowledgeable about the local craft beer scene – and learned about Port Brewing. I thought Pizza Port up in Solana Beach had morphed into Port Brewing in San Marcos. The real story is they are two distinct but related operations. The brewmaster Tomme Arthur came to Pizza Port in 1995. Pizza Port is owned by Vince Marsaglia and his sister Gina. Tomme brewed some great beers and developed a good reputation at Pizza Port.

In 2005, Stone vacated their brewery in San Marcos and moved into their new, larger facility nearby. Tomme, Vince and Gina partnered to take over the old Stone facility and created Port Brewing. Tomme is the brewmaster at Port Brewing now and the brewing of Pizza Port beers was handed over to  Jeff Bagby. Port Brewing brews about 15,000 barrels per year and are perennial award winners.

Port Brewing Wipeout IPA

When I came home, I opened a Port Brewing Wipeout IPA. I liked knowing the story behind it, but it didn’t taste any different – it was good west coast style IPA as usual.

Last night, a storm was expected to move in with rain and wind out of the west. I heard rain falling on the roof at one point in the night, but it didn’t seem like much. Later, around 2:30am, I woke up and was stunned by the lack of sound. Usually traffic along I-5 and Mission Bay Drive creates a kind of white noise in the background. It was absolutely silent out. I finally drifted off to sleep again.

This morning I woke up at 6:32am. I still didn’t hear traffic noise, but what I did hear was the sound of commercial airliners passing off the coast. San Diego International Airport (Lindberg Field) allows departures beginning at 6:30am. The jets would be taking off to the west, flying over Point Loma. Most of the flight paths would be vectored north over the ocean before heading east.

Lying in bed, I wondered about the jet noise. We don’t usually hear them because they are too far away from the coast. Then I understood the silence from the road. Wind affects the way sound waves travel. Wind speed and direction vary with altitude. The velocity is lower closer to the ground and usually increases with altitude.This causes a refraction of the sound waves. The wind was blowing from west to east. The sound waves from the jets up high to the west refract and bend toward the ground. This carried the sound of the jets down to our location. The sound of the cars downwind from us was also refracted. Going upwind, the sound waves tend to bend upwards, carrying the road noise over the top of our location which is why we couldn’t hear it. Sometimes my mind is occupied by thoughts like these when I can’t sleep.

We’re in for a blustery day today with wind, clouds and a high temperature in the lower to mid 60s. There’s a wind advisory at Lindberg Field and also a high wave advisory – wave sets up to 12 feet are expected. We may have rain again this evening. I think it’ll be a good day to hang out and catch up on few chores.